Monday, December 13, 2010

Isles In Icey Music City

The Nashville Predators have had their share of trouble, including that devastating flood pictured. But they are amazingly resilient. Nashville Predators fans are some of the best in the NHL. They are passionate about their team and giving of their time, energy and money. In return, the Predator organization meets them with open arms with events and access to players and staff. This is Southern Hospitality at it's finest.

The problem is that with the wind chill today at -1 and a Preds team on a winning streak, the Islanders may not benefit from that hospitality on the ice.

I read the preview of the game on NHL.com looking for some shred of hope for our hapless Islanders, but could find none. The Preds goal tending has been stellar and their PK has been almost perfect killing off 42 of 43 of the last power play chances. Now you may say with the Islanders, that may not matter since they can't do anything on the power play any way. But it's a factor.

The rising frustration level of the Islanders is also a factor. When Rick DiPietro said he felt like he wanted to throw up after blowing a 2 - 0 lead on Saturday, you know he was speaking for everyone in the room and every Islander fan in Islanders Country. If it is all a "confidence" issue, how can that be rectified if they're sick to their stomachs.

With the additional loss of Mark Eaton, Bridgeport has lost another one of their best as Rhett Rhakshani has been recalled to fill another hole in the Islanders NHL roster. How many man games have the Islanders lost NOW? Seriously. This is getting into epic proportions.

Milan Jurcina was skating, but not in the line-up on Saturday. Perhaps he will be ready for today. Also absent on the ice Saturday was the Islanders best defenseman Radek Martinek. The question will be if he's available today. Was that just an effort to rest his arm on Saturday or has the "man of glass" finally succumbed to what we have all waited for.... a real injury.

In the injury department, I'm starting to wonder if we've watched Doug Weight play the last game of his career as there seems to be no word of his return. The Predators injury list is much smaller: Pekka Rinne (knee), David Legwand (lower body) and Matthew Lombardi (concussion).

One of my favorite Preds fans has an excellent blog at www.TheViewFrom111.blogspot.com. Be sure to check it out to get a feeling about Nashville.

Rob Carlin will have a new 10 Question challenge and we'll see if anyone else has opted for the Mohawk.

More as it comes over Twitter.

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